Nope, no great grammar debates today - I definitely mean
good, not
well. Many of us in the industry and beyond are doing as well as we can in today's business climate. Many of us expect to be doing better when the biz turns around for us in the next year or so. How many of us stop to do good on our road to doing well?
You see, I have a dilemma. It's been a life-long dilemma for me... a terminal ailment, if you will. It sounds simple enough: I want to do good.
Somehow, it's not th…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on December 2, 2009 at 2:06pm —
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Jodi Ray, account manager at Omnipress (and a
PlannerMix member!), has been hard at work over the past few months to provide useful, conference-related resources, cost-saving ideas, and planning pointers through the
Omnipress blog and
online tips page.
This week, for a little holiday change of pace, she decided to mix it up…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on November 25, 2009 at 11:35am —
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If you happen to watch
House, M.D. as religiously as I do, then perhaps you have occasionally shared a simple life's desire with me:
Man, I wish I could be as honest as House right now.
Fellow fans of the illustrious Dr. House probably already know exactly the types of situations I'm talking about... those involving half-truths, insinuations, omissions, embellishments, connotations, and outright "everybody lies" moments of realization and resulting, fist-clenching frustration. Wou…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on November 4, 2009 at 7:32pm —
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An opportunity is available for a professional photographer who has prior experience working at events. Services are needed during The Carbon Economy Summit at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. on the evening of November 17 and all day November 18.
If you or someone you know is interested in this opportunity, please contact Neela Johnston,
neela@onsiteevents.com, for further details.
Serenity J. Knutson, Editor in Chie…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on November 4, 2009 at 4:25pm —
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Every once in a while, I see the power of social media flash before my eyes.
During today's
#eventprofs regularly scheduled TweetChat, participants saw a sudden barrage of repetitive marketing messages from what some of us assumed to be a spambot by the name of
@DolceMeetings. Within moments,
@DolceMeetings…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on October 15, 2009 at 1:30pm —
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The Motivation Show was held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL from September 29 through October 1. Check out our selection of session summaries, provided by
The Conference Publishers.
Strategic Sourcing Equals Best Value for Money
Strategy is money in any venture; it is also the difference between adequate and ideal when selecting a meeting venue.
“It doesn’t matter how many meetings you have,” said David Sachs of Me…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on October 12, 2009 at 12:31pm —
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I saw this commercial on television last night, created by a well-known web conferencing provider, and I felt compelled to find a link to share for discussion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whBxN699lwY
The video opens with testimonial regarding downsides of business travel, such as costs, time lost, being away from home, etc., followed by the tagline “Put Meetings In Their Place” – which, according to the commercial, is…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on October 7, 2009 at 9:30am —
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We've discussed before the way social media seems to have changed communication styles for many people, opening the doors to much more informal conversations and connections, but has that phenomenon also acted to curtail basic courtesies in our overall lives?
To be more specific: whatever happened to
please and
thank you? I remember when these phrases were standard elements of almost every exchange, but they both seem to have gone missing lately.
And before someone lays blame squ…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on October 6, 2009 at 10:30am —
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Hyatt, by now, I don't see how you can be unaware that an awful lot of people are really unhappy with you. In fact, I think it is safe to say that you have pretty much infuriated a large contingent of the overall population.
How on earth you might have thought you could suddenly
fire the entire housekeeping staffs of three different Boston hotels - after lying to them ab…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on September 18, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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This week, the Convention Industry Council announced that a task force of industry leaders have selected Y Partnership, Inc. to develop five to six "key messages" to get out the word about the value of face-to-face meetings. The new effort is intended to complement the U.S. Travel Association's "Meetings Mean Business" campaign, and it is ramped up by support from major industry associations.
In a release announcing this latest effort, John Graham, CAE, President and CEO of ASAE & the Cente…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on September 9, 2009 at 5:12pm —
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The following request comes from Eli Gorin, CMP, President of gMeetings, Inc. and the newly-formed Train2Meet.
Dear Meetings/Events/Hospitality Industry Colleague,
Our industry has been hard hit this year by so much negativity that it’s time to start turning things around. One way I am trying to do that is by developing new training programs which can help improve the way we do business within our industry. Part of being able to develop a good training program is gathering the necessary…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 31, 2009 at 9:36am —
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 25, 2009 at 4:46pm —
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Want to help a student who seeks information on green meetings and events? The following inquiry comes from Paige Nixon, a student at the CERAM School of Business. The survey will only take a few short minutes of your time!
I am very interested in society’s “going green” movement and its impact on the events and meetings industry. I have constructed a 10-question survey and would greatly appreciate your responses and time. Survey results will be used to prepare my Masters Dissertation as…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 24, 2009 at 12:00pm —
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Check out this great audio from some of the speakers who will appear at HSMAI's Affordable Meetings National show, coming up in D.C. in September.
Provided by HSMAI University, the below links will take you to interviews with the speakers, in which they discuss the topic areas they will address at Affordable Meetings National. Make sure to tune in and get a taste of what is to come!
Making Meeting Magic and Getting Cha…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 12, 2009 at 1:30pm —
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How much has the meetings industry changed in 17 years? View this
remastered 1992 PBS highlight on "The Invisible Industry," then decide for yourself.
Thanks to Dave Lutz at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting for sending out this great link over the listservs this morning. Everyone involved in meetings and hospitality should take the nine minutes to watch this clip. Then ask someone who
isn't involved in meetings or ho…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 4, 2009 at 2:56pm —
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Not every place in Mexico is a sun-kissed beach resort destination. When visiting the nation's capital in late July, bring along a sweater; it can be downright chilly in the mornings and evenings. Perhaps that is a reason why one finds mostly solid-walled structures in landlocked Mexico City, away from the many open-air restaurants and breezy hotel lobbies one can find in the warmer coastal areas.
Unlike the beach destinations, which one can take largely at face value, Mexico City reveals itsel…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 3, 2009 at 6:00pm —
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Big news for PlannerMix members: PlannerMix.com is pleased to become the first social networking website to offer benefits to its U.S.-based members! Through strategic partnerships with leading benefits and services providers and through our sister organization, Association Pilot, PlannerMix members have immediate access to the following benefits plans.
Free Access Rx Program: Prescription Benefits Membership!
The Free Access Rx Program assists members with the escalating costs o…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on August 3, 2009 at 10:06am —
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Time and time again, I am moved to write of the remarkable people who make this industry such an oasis of human kindness and professionalism.
And then... every once in a while, I am moved to write about those "other" people in the industry.
What is it about common sense and appropriate behavior that causes them both to fall by the wayside in so many professional settings? As a member of the "twentysomething" sect, I am weary of bad manners being blamed on my generation. I have seen and heard o…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on July 29, 2009 at 11:20am —
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Have you heard the rumble? On Tuesday, Jeff Hurt
started a conversation that meetings industry associations everywhere should be watching very carefully. In short, he says he has turned from a "member evangelist" to a "member critic" overnight due to MPI's email announcement earlier this week that virtual attendance to WEC09 is now an option... for $299.
Basically, Jeff wants to know…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on July 2, 2009 at 4:00pm —
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Social media. It has been the word of the day for at least the last two years now. And I hear the question almost every single day: is it working for you?
"It" can mean a lot of things but, in general, breaks down to two separate concepts. Either you have a presence in a network, or you participate in a network. Whether or not "it" works for you depends on how you use it and what you wish to gain from it.
If your social media goal is to post a profile on every network out there so you c…
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Added by Serenity J. Knutson on July 1, 2009 at 1:49pm —
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